The Gulag Archipelago is Solzhenitsyn's masterwork, a vast canvas of camps, prisons, transit centres and secret police, of informers and spies and interrogators and also of heroism, a Stalinist anti-world at the heart of the Soviet Union where the key to survival lay not in hope but in despair.The work is based on the testimony of some two hundred survivors, and on the recollection of Solzhenitsyn's own eleven years in labour camps and exile. It is both a thoroughly researched document and a feat of literary and imaginative power. This edition has been abridged into one volume at the author's wish and with his full co-operation. Read more

Solzhenitsyn spent eleven years in labour camps and in exile.This book is his masterwork, based on his own experiences as well as the testimony of some 200 survivors. A vast canvas of camps, prisons, transit centres and secret police, of informers and spies and interrogators but also of everyday heroism, it chronicles the story of those who dared to oppose Stalin, and for whom the key to survival lay not in hope but in despair. A thoroughly researched document and a feat of literary and imaginative power, this edition of The Gulag Archipelago was abridged into one volume at the request of the author.'Helped to bring down an empire. Its importance can hardly be exaggerated' Doris Lessing, Sunday Telegraph'Solzhenitsyn’s masterpiece...helped create the world we live in today' Anne ApplebaumWITH AN AFTERWORD BY JORDAN B. PETERSONTHE OFFICIALLY APPROVED ABRIDGEMENT OF THE GULAG ARCHIPELAGO VOLUMES I, II & III Read more

Octavia E. Butler's ground-breaking masterpiece, with an original foreword by Ayòbámi Adébáyò.'A marvel of imagination, empathy and detail' NEW YORK TIMES'The marker you should judge all other time-travelling narratives by' GUARDIAN'One of the most significant literary artists of the twentieth century. One cannot exaggerate the impact she has had' JUNOT DIAZIn 1976, Dana dreams of being a writer. In 1815, she is assumed a slave.When Dana first meets Rufus on a Maryland plantation, he's drowning. She saves his life - and it will happen again and again. Neither of them understands his power to summon her whenever his life is threatened, nor the significance of the ties that bind them.And each time Dana saves him, the more aware she is that her own life might be over before it's even begun.This is the extraordinary story of two people bound by blood, separated by so much more than time.'No novel I've read this year has felt as relevant, as gut-wrenching or as essential' CAROLINE O'DONOGHUE**MAJOR TV SERIES NOW ON DISNEY+**PRAISE FOR OCTAVIA E. BUTLER'Unnervingly prescient and wise' YAA GYASI'Butler's evocative, often troubling, novels explore far-reaching issues of race, sex, power and, ultimately, what it means to be human' NEW YORK TIMES'Butler's prose, always pared back to the bone, delineates the painful paradoxes of metamorphosis with compelling precision' GUARDIAN'Octavia Butler was a visionary' VIOLA DAVIS'An icon of the Afrofuturism world, envisioning literary realms that placed black characters front and center' VANITY FAIR'Butler writes with such a familiarity that the alien is welcome and intriguing. She really artfully exposes our human impulse to self-destruct' LUPITA NYONG'O Read more

William Hague has written the life of William Wilberforce who was both a staunch conservative and a tireless campaigner against the slave trade to coincide with the bicentenary of its abolition in 1807.A formidable orator, campaigner and tactician, Yorkshire-born William Wilberforce spearheaded in Parliament the 20-year-long campaign to abolish one of the great abominations of the eighteenth century: the Atlantic slave trade. Starting with research which led him famously to decide in 1787 that 'so enormous, so dreadful and so irremediable did it appear that I resolved I would not rest until I had effected its abolition', Wilberforce and his small band of allies took on the most powerful vested interests in the land, as well as some formidable political opponents, to secure eventual triumph in the dramatic events of 1807.This is the extraordinary story of a politician (and good friend of William Pitt the Younger) who shunned all honours, titles and ministerial positions, yet became one of the most influential Britons in history. Born into wealth and idleness, he transformed himself into a man who to a unique degree combined friendship, philanthropy and evangelism with immense social and political achievements.In this book, published in the bicentenary of the slave trade's abolition, award-winning author William Hague brilliantly illuminates Wilberforce's turbulent life and career, offering a politician's insights into the parliamentary manoeuvres and electoral dramas with which he had to contend. He shows how Wilberforce's conviction and faith allowed him to hold fast to his independence and (generally conservative) beliefs even at a time of war, revolution and social upheaval. And he demonstrates how the eradication of the slave trade was genuinely the work of a lifetime, paving the way for the abolition of slavery itself throughout the British Empire, enacted while Wilberforce lay dying in 1833.The result is a compelling account of a man who achieved the rare feat of placing principle above politics, mankind above party and results above ambition. A vital part of human history, this is also a timeless story of determination and inspiration. Read more

Zana Muhsen, born and bred in Birmingham, is of Yemeni origin. When her father told her she was to spend a holiday with relatives in North Yemen, she jumped at the chance. Aged 15 and 13 respectively, Zana and her sister discovered that they had been literally sold into marriage, and that on their arrival they were virtually prisoners. They had to adapt to a completely alien way of life, with no running water, dung-plastered walls, frequent beatings, and the ordeal of childbirth on bare floors with only old women in attendance. After eight years of misery and humiliation Zana succeeded in escaping, but her sister is still there, and it seems likely that she will now never leave the country where she has spent more than half her life. This is an updated edition of Zana's account of her experiences. Read more

A compelling account of the story of slavery - from ancient times, through the plantations of the Caribbean and America, to the official abolition of the slave trade more than 200 years ago. Recounts the stories of people who were enslaved, including their daring tales of resistance and escape. Highlights the continued existence of slavery today and what you can do to help stop it. Read more

One of the most important and enduring figures in the history of 19th century America, the legendary conductor on the Underground Railroad whose courageous exploits have been described in countless books for young readers, is here revealed for the first time as a singular and complex character, a woman who defied simple categorisation. |In this, the first major biography of Harriet Tubman in more than 100 years, we see the heroine of children's books and biopics with a new clarity and richness of detail.| - Time Read more

‘Monumental and eye-opening’ Reza Aslan'A revelation […and…] an intellectual triumph' Irish Independent'[A] massive achievement' Spectator‘Refreshingly readable' GuardianFor the past two thousand years, Christian tradition, scholarship, and pop culture has credited the authorship of the New Testament to a select group of men: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and Paul. But the truth is that these individuals did not write alone. In some meaningful ways they did not write at all.Hidden behind these named and sainted individuals are a cluster of enslaved coauthors and collaborators, almost all of whom go uncredited. They were responsible for producing the earliest manuscripts of the New Testament. They took dictation, sometimes editorialising in the process, and polished and refined the final manuscripts. When the Christian message began to move independently from the first apostles it was enslaved missionaries who undertook the dangerous journeys across the Mediterranean and along dusty Roman roads to move Christianity from Jerusalem and the Levant to Rome, Spain, North Africa and Egypt. Finally, when these texts were read aloud to new audiences of curious potential converts, it was educated and trained enslaved workers who performed them – deciding whether a statement was sincere or sarcastic; a throwaway remark or something central to be emphasised. Their influence in the spread of Christianity and making of the Bible was enormous, yet their role has been almost entirely overlooked until now.Filled with profound revelations for reading and understanding the gospels themselves, God’s Ghostwriters is a groundbreaking and rigorously researched book about how enslaved people shaped the Bible, and with it all of Christianity. It’s also an intimate portrait of lives not often considered by history, and a reckoning with the motives and methods of the early Christians as they spread their message across the ancient world. Read more

A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR, WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE FOR BIOGRAPHYA New York Times bestseller, the incredible true story of a couple that escaped slavery in the South and eventually made their way to the UK, Africa and beyond.The remarkable true story of Ellen and William Craft, who escaped slavery through daring, determination, and disguise, with Ellen passing as a wealthy, disabled White man and William posing as "his" slave.In 1848, a year of international democratic revolt, a young, enslaved couple, Ellen and William Craft, achieved one of the boldest feats of self-emancipation in history. Posing as master and slave, while sustained by their love as husband and wife, they made their escape together across more than 1,000 miles, riding steamboats, carriages, and trains that took them from bondage in Georgia to the free states of the North.Along the way, they dodged slave traders, military officers, and even friends of their enslavers, who might have revealed their true identities. The tale of their adventure soon made them celebrities, and generated headlines around the country. Audiences could not get enough of this charismatic young couple, who travelled the country drawing thunderous applause as they spoke alongside some of the greatest abolitionists of the day.But even then, they were not out of danger. With the passage of an infamous new Fugitive Slave Act in 1850, all Americans became accountable for returning refugees like the Crafts to slavery. Then yet another adventure began, as the Crafts fled to England to embark upon a new life.With three epic journeys compressed into one monumental bid for freedom, Master Slave Husband Wife recounts both a ground-breaking quest for liberty and justice, and an unforgettable love story. Read more

‘One of the most important writers of the French Caribbean’ GuardianÉdouard Glissant’s most celebrated, scintillating philosophical work – which sets out a new poetic vision for the world‘We cry our cry of poetry. Our boats are open, and we sail them for everyone’In Poetics of Relation, Édouard Glissant turns the Caribbean of his birth into an energetic, multi-layered vision of a world in transformation. We come to see that relation in all its senses – telling, listening, connecting, and the parallel consciousness of self and surroundings – is the key to revolutionising mentalities and societies. We are not rooted, but ever-changing; we have a right to difference, wherever we are. Blending dreamlike prose with philosophical brilliance, this unique exploration of language, colonialism, slavery and freedom narrates an Antillean identity, but also that of the whole world, where ‘the poetics of Relation senses, assumes, opens, gathers, scatters, continues, and transforms.’Translated by Betsy Wing Read more

'An exhilarating, urgent work . . . [Dark Laboratory] threads together ecological and human crises in an original, glittering web’ Afua HirschFrom award-winning writer and theorist Tao Leigh Goffe, an urgent investigation into the intertwined history of colonialism and the climate crisis – and the lessons we can learn to fight for a better world.Our planet is on the precipice of dramatic ecological breakdown and climate despair is at an all-time high. But there are many communities who have survived beyond the environmental destruction wrought on them by colonialism – and they hold the solutions for climate repair.Using the Caribbean as a case study, Tao Leigh Goffe traces the vibrant and complex history of the islands back to 1492 and the arrival of Christopher Columbus when the Caribbean became the subject of Western exploitation. Charting the human and ecological forces that have shaped the islands, Goffe examines the legacy of fierce warrior Queen Nanny of the Maroons, engages in pressing cultural debate about stolen artefacts and human remains which are kept hidden in museum archives, and visits Indigenous farming cooperatives who are using ancestral knowledge to rebuild their communities.Using the Caribbean as a both a warning and a guide, Dark Laboratory takes hopeful and galvanizing teachings from the islands communities to offer illuminating solutions to the ecological crisis. From guano to sugarcane, coral bleaching to invasive mongoose populations, Dark Laboratory is a lyrical, vibrant and urgent investigation into the greatest threat facing humanity.‘Noble and necessary . . . Goffe’s ear is tuned to songs of resistance, to what it looks like to make life amid (and after) colonial subjugation’ New York Times‘Thoroughly compelling . . . Every page is mixed with heart and conviction’ Monique Roffey Read more

Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer and #1 New York Times bestselling author Jon Meacham chronicles the life of Abraham Lincoln, charting how--and why--he confronted secession, threats to democracy, and the tragedy of slavery to expand the possibilities of America.A president who governed a divided country has much to teach us in a twenty-first-century moment of polarization and political crisis. Hated and hailed, excoriated and revered, Abraham Lincoln was at the pinnacle of American power when implacable secessionists gave no quarter in a clash of visions bound up with money, race, identity, and faith. In him we can see the possibilities of the presidency as well as its limitations. At once familiar and elusive, Lincoln tends to be seen as the greatest of American presidents--a remote icon--or as a politician driven more by calculation than by conviction. This illuminating new portrait gives us a very human Lincoln--an imperfect man whose moral antislavery commitment, essential to the story of justice in America, began as he grew up in an antislavery Baptist community; who insisted that slavery was a moral evil; and who sought, as he put it, to do right as God gave him to see the right. This book tells the story of Lincoln from his birth on the Kentucky frontier in 1809 to his leadership during the Civil War to his tragic assassination in 1865: his rise, his self-education, his loves, his bouts of depression, his political failures, his deepening faith, and his persistent conviction that slavery must end. In a nation shaped by the courage of the enslaved of the era and by the brave witness of Black Americans, Lincoln's story illustrates the ways and means of politics in a democracy, the roots and durability of racism, and the capacity of conscience to shape events. Read more

The shocking first-hand account of one man’s remarkable fight for freedom; now an award-winning motion picture.‘Why had I not died in my young years – before God had given me children to love and live for? What unhappiness and suffering and sorrow it would have prevented. I sighed for liberty; but the bondsman's chain was round me, and could not be shaken off.’1841: Solomon Northup is a successful violinist when he is kidnapped and sold into slavery. Taken from his family in New York State – with no hope of ever seeing them again – and forced to work on the cotton plantations in the Deep South, he spends the next twelve years in captivity until his eventual escape in 1853.First published in 1853, this extraordinary true story proved to be a powerful voice in the debate over slavery in the years leading up to the Civil War. It is a true-life testament of one man’s courage and conviction in the face of unfathomable injustice and brutality: its influence on the course of American history cannot be overstated. Read more

**Now watch the BBC drama Doing Money**‘They took me because I would not be missed’This is the shocking true story of how an ordinary young girl was kidnapped off the street as she walked home and turned into a slave – before fighting for her freedom and finding the courage to help the police in one of the UK’s most shocking modern-day slavery trials. Anna was an innocent student when she was kidnapped, beaten and forced into the sex slave industry. Threatened and tormented by her pimps, she was made to sleep with thousands of men. But she would not allow them to break her. On learning that she would be trafficked from Ireland to Dubai, she found the courage to trick her captors and flee. Later, she would also find that same resilience to help the police bring down her abductors in what has now become one of our biggest windows into the worldwide sex trafficking trade. For the first time, the girl at the centre of the storm reveals the heart-breaking truth. Read more

This new edition of Brogan's superb one-volume history - from early British colonisation to the Reagan years - captures an array of dynamic personalities and events. In a broad sweep of America's triumphant progress. Brogan explores the period leading to Independence from both the American and the British points of view, touching on permanent features of 'the American character' - both the good and the bad. He provides a masterly synthesis of all the latest research illustrating America's rapid growth from humble beginnings to global dominance. Read more

'Offers a new way of writing about religion and should serve as a model for future studies in modern British history. ' Literary Review'A crucial and compelling read' NATALIE COLLINS @GodLovesWomen 'The story of Josephine Butler is astonishing, shocking, inspiring, recounted here by a narrator who understands the very core of her subject. A powerful read.' CLAIRE GILBERT, author of I, Julian 'When Courage Calls allows us to hear Butler's message afresh at a time when women's value and safety is again at risk.' ALISON MILBANK, Professor of Literature and Theology, University of Nottingham'Remarkable' KRISH KANDIAH'This is an inspiring book written by an inspiring writer' RACHAEL TREWEEK, Bishop of Gloucester Millicent Fawcett, the leader of the British suffragist movement, described Josephine Butler as 'the most distinguished English woman of the nineteenth century'. Among the first feminist activists, Butler raised public awareness of the plight of destitute women, worked to address human trafficking and led a vigorous campaign to secure equal rights for women before the law. In her pursuit of justice, Butler did as much for women as William Wilberforce did for African slaves within the British Empire, and yet, while Wilberforce remains a household name, Butler is forgotten.Social historian Sarah C. Williams presents a re-examined biography of the radical political activist Josephine Butler. From the beauty of her childhood in Northumbria, to the stifling intellectual environment of mid-Victorian Oxford; from the impoverished streets of Liverpool and the brothels of London, Brussels and Paris, to the offices of Westminster and the Houses of Parliament. Butler's relentless drive to secure rights for women against the sexual double standard of her day captures a remarkable woman with deeply held values for equality.Underpinning Butler's public life of political activism lies the full corpus of her writing and the spirituality that grounded her activism. When Courage Calls offers a profound examination of Butler's inner life of prayer, defined by her radical sense of justice that was able to transform Victorian society. Such conviction offers us a taste of the possibility for our time and culture.This biography presents a fresh interpretation of the relationship between Josephine Butler's public leadership, her political activism and her spirituality. Read more

Masterful translations of the great philosopher's major work on ethics, along with his own remarkable review of his life and works. On the Genealogy of Morals (1887) shows Nietzsche using philsophy, psychology, and classical philology in an effort to give new direction to an ancient discipline. The work consists of three essays. The first contrasts master morality and slave morality and indicates how the term "good" has widely different meanings in each. The second inquiry deals with guilt and the bad conscience; the third with ascetic ideals--not only in religion but also in the academy. Ecce Homo, written in 1898 and first published posthumously in 1908, is Nietzsche's review of his life and works. It contains chapters on all the books he himself published. His interpretations are as fascinating as they are invaluable. Nothing Nietzsche wrote is more stunning stylistically or as a human document. Walter Kaufmann's translations are faithful of the word and spirit of Nietzsche, and his running footnote commentaries on both books are more comprehensive than those in his other Nietzsche translations because these two works have been so widely misunderstood. Read more

“A cross between Shawshank Redemption and Escape from Alcatraz!” – Shaun Attwood, YouTuber and AuthorAll his life, 'Johnnyboy' Steele has been running. Firstly, from an abusive father, then from the rigours of an approved school and a young offenders jail, and, finally, from the harshness of adult prison. This book details how the Steele brothers staged the most daring breakout that Glasgow's Barlinnie prison had ever seen and recounts what happens when their younger brother, Joseph, was falsely accused of the greatest mass murder in Scottish legal history.If Johnnyboy had wings, he would have flown to help his family, but he would have to wait for freedom to use his expertise to publicise young Joe's miscarriage of justice. This is a compelling, often shocking and uncompromisingly honest account of how the human spirit can survive against almost crushing odds. It is a story of family love, friendship and, ultimately, a desire for justice. Read more

'Outstanding' JOHN PRESTON | 'Extraordinary' THE TIMES | 'Superb' ANDREW ROBERTS | 'Vivid and compelling' IRISH TIMES | 'Psychologically shrewd' IRISH INDEPENDENT | 'A page-turning finale' HISTORY TODAYCelebrated reformer and proud nationalist, romantic radical and vilified traitor: this is the story of Roger Casement, one of the 20th century’s most complex and compelling individuals.It was a life caught between fault lines. As a British ambassador, Casement exposed the horrors of the Belgian Congo, pioneering modern human rights. He fought passionately for Irish independence, even as each step led to martyrdom. And, desperate for love but forced to hide his sexuality, his deepest relationship became entangled in espionage and sabotage, isolating Casement and carrying him to an unmarked prison grave.Masterfully drawing on his letters, diaries and new archival material, Broken Archangel uncovers the extraordinary life and legacy of Roger Casement – a fragmented man in a fragmented age, living a life ahead of his time.'Casement is the Odysseus of Roland Philipps's epic' DAILY TELEGRAPH'For the stranger to Casement's life, this is the book to buy' TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT Read more

I am Not Your Slave is the shocking true story of a young African girl, Tupa, who was abducted from southwestern Africa and funneled through an extensive yet almost completely unknown human trafficking network spanning the entire African continent. As she is transported from the point of her abduction on a remote farm near the Namibian-Angolan border and channeled to her ultimate destination in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, her three-year odyssey exposes the brutal horrors of a modern day middle passage. During her ordeal, Tupa encounters members of Africa's notorious gangs, terrifying witchdoctors, mysterious middlemen from China, corrupt police and border officials, Arab smugglers and high-ranking United Nations officials. And of course, Tupa meets her fellow trafficking victims, young women and girls from around the world. Tupa's harrowing experience, including her daring escape and eventual return home, sheds light on the most shocking aspects of modern day slavery, as well as the essential determination to be free. Read more